Plan B, or the Lack Thereof (Warriors 98, Raptors 104)

George Bernard Shaw once observed that “no question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious.” For the second time in three games, the answer to the Warriors’ problems has been obvious — someone other than Stephen Curry needs to score points. But as simple as that may sound, Mark Jackson and his team have had an exceedingly difficult time finding that person.

It’s odd to describe holding someone to 34 points as “containing” them, but you can make a solid argument that the dramatically improved Raptors did exactly that with their defense on Curry. The Warriors’ star had to work hard for his own shots and had an even harder time running the team’s offense. When he found his teammates, it was typically in a pass-out-of-the-double-team panic, rather than as part of a structured play. So while the Warriors moved the ball fairly well all game, they usually did so in a scrambling free-for-all rather than as part of their sets. When the Warriors’ legs were relatively fresh, they were able to stay one step ahead of the Raptors. But when the Warriors wore down and the Raptors cranked up their defensive intensity, the absence of any plan B was exposed.

The Warriors scored once — a self-created Curry long-range bomb — in the game’s final 3:33. During that stretch, they repeatedly turned the ball over in their desperate attempts to find someone — anyone — other than Curry willing to take a shot. The confusion of the Warriors’ final minutes is indicative of their lack of options once Curry is blanketed. The Curry-Lee pick-and-roll had worked well earlier in the evening, but as the Raptors started running bigger players to help against Curry, his window for finding Lee closed to almost nothing. Thompson hit a few open looks earlier in the evening, but missed a wide-open three pointer that would have given the team the lead with under three minutes left. And with that, the Warriors’ options seemed to be exhausted. Iguodala has shied away from penetration or other looks in the paint since his hamstring injury. Bogut now scores 90% of his points off lobs or put-backs. Harrison Barnes had some success earlier in the evening creating off the dribble, but was on the bench late in favor of Iguodala’s defense and Thompson’s shooting. The Warriors were out of answers, and might as well have been spectators as the Raptors’ defense sealed the victory with stop after stop.

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The Warriors have 22 games left before the playoffs, and Mark Jackson needs to use them as a testing ground for other offensive options. The first step to change is for Jackson to acknowledge that “my guys” aren’t getting it done against better than average defenses. In the “we won’t panic, everything’s fine, it’s a process” world of Jackson’s coaching, the act of experimenting may be jarring. Players we’re used to seeing a crunch time may suddenly be on the bench. Conventional wisdom needs to be tested. Who knows — if things get really crazy, Jackson might even start calling timeouts to make crunch-time adjustments. There are a lot of different combinations that the Warriors could try, but here are three possible tweaks (depending on the situation) that I’d like to see as the Warriors struggle to find strength beyond Curry in late-game situations.

Steve Blake for Andrew Bogut — Against a team looking to penetrate or with a proven low-post threat, Bogut needs to be in the game. But for teams that live off jumpers and/or the pick-and-roll, the advantage Bogut gives on defense is minimized, making his offensive short-comings harder to justify. By swapping Bogut for Blake against those teams (the Raptors likely fall into this category), the Warriors shouldn’t give up much on defense and stand to gain a significant boost on the offensive end. Blake doesn’t need to take the ball out of Curry’s hands late in the game, but he will assure that if Curry needs to dump the ball in pressure situations, it’ll end up with someone else capable of running the team. Bringing another shooter on the floor will stretch the defense, creating more room for Lee to work in the paint and for Iguodala to penetrate. And the presence of a steady veteran hand hopefully can help prevent complete meltdowns like the Warriors experienced in the final minutes of Toronto’s pressure defense. No one is a bigger Bogut fan than I am, but he’s not a must-play against every match-up when the Warriors are looking to gain a lead rather than hold one.

Harrison Barnes for David Lee — The most ponderous mystery of the Warriors season is why Mark Jackson continues to shy away from the line-up that served him so well in last year’s playoffs. Barnes looks like a different player when he gets run at the 4. He’s more aggressive and effective going to the basket, which forces defenders to give him more space on the perimeter, and ultimately opens up his outside game. The team’s spacing improves, allowing its crafty passers to find players like Bogut and Iguodala for easy looks cutting through the paint. And unless an opponent has two low-post scoring threats, there’s nothing lost — and potentially much gained — on defense, as Barnes is more capable of handling switches and stretch situations than Lee. The sticking point for the line-up remains sending Lee — arguably the team’s second best player — to the bench for crunch-time. As counter-intuitive as that may sound, a change in Lee’s offensive game this season makes the swap more reasonable. The disappearance of Lee’s mid-range jumper has turned him into a fairly one-dimensional offensive player. He needs to score going towards the basket, usually in a pick-and-roll, or on a put-back. If increased pressure on defense shuts off the passing lane or if Lee lacks the strength at the end of the game to get off a good shot once he rolls, he’s not the offensive force he typically is earlier in games. The case for at least experimenting with a change is made by the Warriors’ play — both their excellent play last spring when Lee was injured and their sputtering late-game offense this year with Lee on the court. Lee is a vital part of this team, but Jackson can’t be afraid to make adjustments based on Lee’s strengths and weaknesses.

Draymond Green for Klay Thompson — The most counter-intuitive move of all for the Warriors’ struggling offense would be to pull one of their scorers. After Curry, Thompson has the Warriors’ best all-around offensive game. He can penetrate, post-up, pull-up and hit from distance. The only problem is you never know when he’s suddenly going to be incapable of making any of those shots (4-15 on Sunday). Thompson’s streakiness makes him the worst type of player for a team that needs steady offensive production in late-game situations. By replacing Thompson with Green, the Warriors double-down on their defense. They a gamble that stops — and potentially steals — will give them the extra boost they need to squeak by. It worked last week against New Jersey, where Green’s defense (and Curry’s banked three) saved the day. While it may be the ultimate sports cliche to talk about someone being a “winner,” the label fits for Green. He finds a way to help you when he’s on the court and seems to come up big in pressure situations. If there’s any way to get him more late-game minutes, Jackson should experiment with it.

Ultimately, what Mark Jackson tries is less important than the act of trying something. While his stubbornness in the face of criticism may endear him to his players, it’s a dangerous overconfidence. Among the top ten defensive teams in the NBA (by points per 100 possessions) are four of the Warriors’ five likely opponents in the first round of the playoffs: the Thunder (4th), the Spurs (5th), the Clippers (8th) and the Rockets (10th). Jackson has to assume that these teams will find a way — like other top ranked defensive teams the Bulls (2nd), the Bobcats (6th) and the Raptors (7th) — to bottle up Curry. If the Warriors can’t find a consistently effective way to play through that pressure, they shouldn’t expect to make it out of the first round. What better place for Jackson to start his experiments than on Tuesday in Indiana, against the NBA’s best defensive team.

Adam Lauridsen

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Thank you Adam. Wonderful and wise words. I wish you could assist Jackson from the bench with advice. You get my vote. The lack of depth in the countermoves of MJ is getting to me.

Eric Eiserloh

Warriors now 17-23 against teams with a .400 winning % and above.

Breaking it down further, they are 9-15 against the top 11 (including Memphis but not Toronto), and 8-8 against #’s 12-19.

And, yes, they have only 2 losses against the bottom feeders, #’s 19-30.

victor soma

he’s a “feel” coach. whatever that means.

Greg438

As usual, Adam is pretty spot on. For all the silly late turnovers, there are bigger but fixable problems.

Curry can’t be 70-90% of the offense
Lee cannot be allowed to play such mediocre defense so consistently. His numbers often are a wash, that’s not reflected in the plus minus stat. But that is more on Jackson and management. Right now they’re paying about $24 mil for Lee to almost exclusively play offense and AI to almost exclusively play defense. That is not likely to work long term.

Blake is a great pickup; Crawford, four shots (1/4) in 5 minutes.

Zume

One point that is missing is that JON was missing. That is also a reflection on our lack of preparation for games. Speaks to some management problems. I also think we have to improve the health management of our players. Do we have the best resources to keep our players healthy. Jackson overplaying also is part of this problem.

Zume

Thank you EE. It says we probably won’t make it out of the 1st round unless we improve significantly.

Zume

It means MJ is a leader but he needs help to become a better coach. Even if it means he hires an assistant with a lot of experience, especially on the offensive side in game challenges he is dealing with.

dj

I disagree that KT has an all around game. He is a brain dead shooter. Either it goes in or he is very useless.

The offense is too basic so unless that first shot goes down, they just stand around doing nothing. They are not cutting to the basket or doing anything that force good teams to change their defenses.

The W’s also don’t have a second creator. Meyers have bombed this season. First, he signed some useless players then traded for more useless players like Crawford.

Camelot

Matt Steinmetz
@MMS_Steinmetz
02 Mar

“Blake’s smartest, toughest & best ballhandler of Warriors’ guards. He’s gonna have to play with Curry late.”

Camelot

TK: “Could Portland be a favorable first-round match-up for the Warriors? Probably yes, according to the 2013 Denver model”

Adam,
Steve blake subbed in for Klay and Green in for Bogut for 16-17 mins while T. Hansbrough & Patterson & AJohnson were tearing it up inside.

Not sure if we want to try that more.
I still prefer SBlake just sub Curry and then I want to see how SBlake works with Bogut. We haven’t seen much of this and I bet SBlake can set up Bogut who knows how to get to open spots like how he set up for JON.

And I am curious why you have not questioned the lack of touches of Bogut down low. And lack of setplays to get our bigs in position near the basket instead of 1on1 iso 20 feet away. Or Bogut sitting up top “facilitating” instead of him at the post when others cut to the basket.

I actually would try playing JCrawford more with Curry + Bogut instead of Klay because JCrawford can penetrate and take some contacts vs klay shies away from contacts.

Also MJack has not called plays for the small screening the big or small screens for Dre cutting to the basket. Always the other way around.

Bryan Hsiao

Lee’s salary this year 13.9M, Dre’s 12.9M –> 27M

Camelot

Adam shredding MJ’s rotations again has the #fullsquad fundamentalists on high anxiety alert- just a part of the process.

Camelot

Matt Steinmetz
@MMS_Steinmetz
02 Mar

“Blake’s smartest, toughest & best ballhandler of Warriors’ guards. He’s gonna have to play with Curry late.”

“Curry with six TOs final 17 minutes, GSW with three straight TOs at crunch time … Going to need to finish with Blake.”

Eric Eiserloh

Sorry to be a wet blanket for the sake of realism.

On a bright note, I expect a strong effort out of the team in Indiana.

The Warriors usually respond well after a loss, and we should be motivated by pay back, after Indiana gave us a good beating at our place.
We also have O’Neal back, who has not only become one of our veteran leaders, but now has a double motivation to get up for this one (frustration about missing the game in Toronto, and the extra energy he will summon to play well against his former team).

Not saying we’ll win (ndiana’s home record is outstanding), but I expect a hard fought game that goes down to the wire.

Our Team

Steinmetz is an idiot

Thurston Hunger

This is who we are. We own it, and hope something magical happens in the playoffs.

And something might, I’m not trying to be overly pessimistic here. But that stat, Eric, you’ve been pushing for weeks now is telling. Maybe even fortune-telling.

Let’s think of the Ws as a single player. Last year was their break-out rookie season, surprised a lot of people, won some hearts, fans and respect. The latter meant they couldn’t sneak up on many teams this year, and also like a lot of sophomores, their strengths were well-charted and well-challenged this year. Not that I want to already look forward to year three yet, but…

Additionally, there is some truth in the simple fact that replacing Landry and Jack never has happened. So, the “surprise” that the W’s are offensively lacking a bit, isn’t really that much of a surprise in a way.

Blake seems like a god-send, but honestly he’s just a journeyman with more defensive troubles than Jarrett last year, and I don’t think we’ll see one 20-10 game from Steve, much less a string of them as Jarrett put together. So, again, I hope the W’s catch fire in the playoffs, and maybe some luck too in who they end up facing and even when, but getting past the second round this year will need fire and luck.

Getting to it right now looks like it would be a nice success based on the W’s record vs top-tier teams. Of course, some mastermind coaching and one-step-ahead game plans in multiple series could speak volumes more than all 82 post-game conferences from MJax.

There are some bright spots. Draymond has continued to develop, his passing tonight was one over-pass shy of perfect. Health has not been a glaring problem, the wounded Iguadola not-withstanding, or with-hobbling at least. Ezeli all along I had listed as questionable this year, hopefully he doesn’t go Gallinari on the W’s and miss next year too. And the flip side silver lining to your stats note EE, is that the W’s have become quite consistent at beating up on lesser teams. Only two losses versus the catfish, Orlando racked that up alone last year. This was always an issue in the past, and even this year that record is rather remarkable considering all of the large-deficit, uphill come-from-behind wins.

The one large bright spot has a recent eclipse casting a shadow on it as two Eastern defensive teams have rung the W’s up for more than 100 points. But as long as I don’t turn my head away for too long (like Steph and especially D. Lee tonight) the W’s have consistently improved their defense. That is a huge step forward, and likely linked to their record versus teams beneath them. The W’s are not going to beat themselves any more (well unless Klay really takes EVERY quasi-shot he has, or the W’s turn the ball over on 80% of their possessions as they did on the last 3 minutes tonight).

One possible contrarian stance:

A lot of folks have been decrying Klay, and I’m sometimes one of them. But looking now at his and Steph’s percentages they are not miles apart. My gut feeling tells me that Klay tends to hit a lot more shots early and then late he’s taking not so great shots and missing them, while Steph often finds more focus late in the game. I think you keep ‘em both together, and keep their minutes down…and maybe have a quicker hook for each one for fouls or for just having an off night. I also think until Steph really improves on defense, the cross-matches are the right thing to do.

Overall all this team deserves patience still, but Adam’s theme above of mixing things up is something that would have been nice to see earlier than now. Typically the home stretch, rotations tighten up and the anti-Landry will likely be sitting even more than before. And I’m not a Speights-hater, but unlike Carl, he needs someone to set him up more often than not. And he needs to be a PF exclusively with someone like Festus down in the paint to do the dirty work on the offensive glass. Crawford too might have more stints of a few minutes to get a rest for the upper 8 players and that’s it. If they both stay ready, then who knows foul trouble or something worse might open a door for them in a playoff game, otherwise come in and play mop-up ball as if it were a tied game and that might bring them back next year. Probably not….contracts or no.

Again hoping for some GS magic after the 82nd game (and I still feel the W’s are a lock to make the playoffs, despite the fact that if you look down, the W’s are right on the edge of the playoff skyscraper).

The magic could be the Splash Brothers being in the pool for some synchronized shooting at the same time. Sadly, it won’t be a weaponized Bogut (his health has been another positive this year, and maybe he’ll be even more strong and mobile next year as he said in his exit interview last year, we still haven’t seen what he can do on the offensive end).

Personally, I hope the magic comes in the form of a fluid and aggressive Iguodala. Early on he was so good and got a lot of glue-flavored love from the press and teammates. Then his injury sent the W’s into a tailspin and no longer do we need to read between the lines, as it seems the team is owning up to the fact that Andre came back at less than 100%. Apparently for weeks on end. So maybe he can finish the season with a burst of 120%. Otherwise I worry that a lot of flack might be headed his way, and despite the rugged physique, it seems his mentality is much more fragile. Honestly I’m more worried about him than Barnes in some ways…

Apologies for rambling, and it sounds like I’m lowering the bar for this team. but I think their play, and that stat, already did so. Last year they fed off being underdogs, and it paid off. This year, the standings are telling them the same thing.

Can they respond this year?

Camelot

Bucher and Steinmetz…”The BS Brothers” TM. This will be the future short radio tandem for 95.7. I’m surprised the PD didn’t think of it sooner. haha

Our Team

Another disaster performance by Klay. Barnes, Blake and Green all were more effective today.

Listen, Curry and Lee need a third guy who can score. It’s not going to be Bogut or AI. Green’s great for what he is but a go to scorer he’s never gonna be. On the current roster, only Barnes and Klay could develop into THAT third scorer but they are both so far away it is unclear if either will ever grow into the role. Barnes is more likely to develop into that offensive third go to player than Thompson IMO. We need a DeRosen.

Thurston Hunger

#bigmancoach ??

Have MJax send a bunch of Napa wine to Patrick Ewing? Or find a center from days of yore that Bogut respects and will listen to and bring him in.

Sneak Festus into the those secret Tim Duncan work-outs?

Thurston Hunger

Did DeRozan get ANY points in the paint tonight? As much as I admire his stats tonight and his athleticism, I felt like the W’s kept him from being the slash and finisher. that being said he picked up 12 FT’s so there’s that.

Too bad they didn’t keep him off the foul-line and maybe push him out for more 3 pointers where he is not typically as efficient, although he did go 1-2 tonight.

It was a battle of the guards (and D. Lee) but DeRozan’s efficiency on shooting is what got the job done.

Klay was not good and could have stayed out for Barnes IMO, but MJax rarely rolls that way. Letting someone else close, maybe Green at times.

Also for what it’s worth…Steph missed more threes than Klay tonight. And missed more twos as well (Or course SC made more of both as well… And Steph got to the foul-line more, which might be more to your point in desiring a guy like DeRozan, or even Harrison in Klay’s place. Klay has been trying to go the hole more as of late, so hopefully that is something he works on in the off-season).

dr_john

You forgot the dubs are not overly fond of running actual plays. Limited arsenal.

dr_john

Replacing Landry and Jack with two guys named Landry and Jack would not have worked well this year either, nor the next three years of obligation. When will you guys let this bone go get buried?

sartre

Adam hits the ball out of the park.

Thurston Hunger

Hubie Brown was over endorsing their spacing in the Knicks game but…

#1) The spacing tends to be more about opening up jump shots than lanes to the basket

#2) It was against the Knicks…

Thurston Hunger

Hey Doc,

I said replacing, not retaining. I get the money angle and don’t discount either guy for grabbing their paycheck.

That being said, those were two guys that did NOT need someone else to get them their shots. (Granted some folks would say Jack’s shots came at the expense of others’ shots but again they are gone, I get it…and yes both were ironically injured to start the year etc…)

But again….I’m not saying they needed to keep those two. Speights works best off of someone else’s creation. And sure as hell doesn’t find the gap between 2 defenders on the offensive glass like Carl did. And Toney Douglas, who I’ll admit I mistakenly endorsed, just didn’t work. Period.

Meanwhile the Iguodala as back-up point I held as suspect from the get go, and it has not worked. And he’s a guy that I thought could get his shot more readily, but didn’t realize that he may not want it for whatever reason.

After Steph and D. Lee, Barnes is a big drop off. And Crawford as I mentioned above is about to be reduced out of the rotation in meaningul games I suspect. (And even he looks a lot better getting set up than getting his own shot).

Bryan Hsiao

Great post. Thurston Hunger!

Just want to add that it doesn’t take more than 5 games to weaponize Bogut if some simple plays are called for him consistently throughout.

The madness is this team despite very good defense hasn’t improved at all on Offense or resembling a system on O.

Also we had hardly seen Bogut + Barnes or Bogut + Green combo this year where Bogut would have the lane and paint opened up for him to do some damage. (remember the playoffs last year?)

Lee had been one of the reasons why our offense had been stagnant. His pick&roll had been excellent but his 1on1 iso remains to be so inconsistent and he lacks the power&height in his paint game.
Where Bogut has plenty of power and height but seldom gets used down low.

MJack had failed to create an Inside out game and he even refused to try going inside more.
Dlee never attracts double teams in his iso because he either goes up earlier than the double team can come or the opponent rather single cover him.

The only player that attracts doubleteaming is Curry.

instead of relying on Klay’s 40%FG every night, what’s MJack’s rationale to not feed Bogut’s 63%FG regardless his FT%?
The worst comes to the worst, his FT is 34% better than Klay’s 4-15 nights.

MJack needs to make sure they get touches to diversify the offense to have a well-rounded offense.

Mjack literally calls the shots and plays. He needs to command the players to go inside instead of shooting jumpers all day.
He has failed to do that for Dre and Bogut.

sartre

Good thoughts, Thurst. Just one quibble ->

“But looking now at his and Steph’s percentages they are not miles apart.”

TS% estimates shooting efficiency across all the ways a player scores (giving weight to 2P, 3P, and FT).

Curry’s TS% is elite for a guard.
Klay’s is mediocre for a SG.

In the nba that is miles apart. And of course, Klay who struggles to create his own shots gets many more open shooting opportunities with Curry on the floor.

Eric Eiserloh

I think that you wound your way up to it towards the end, thurst. I think that Iguodala (the one who was here at the start of the year) is the missing piece to the puzzle right now: A veteran leader who can have an impact at both ends rather than just one, which is where he has been for far too long.

I think that this may be a season full of growing pains, and I just hope that the core (including coach and management) can go through them and figure things out in time, or changes will surely begin being made to the pieces.

Thurston Hunger

For me, it’s hard to say if teams are just not leaving any perimeter players on D. Lee’s penetration or if as you say, he’s just not looking for that inside out pass (that he was great on last year).

Lee does seem pretty bent on getting up the shot in those iso’s rather than surveying and then deciding on pass vs shot.

And I don’t think he ever kicks it out for a repost…since he’s so committed to the speed move, rather than getting position first.

Thurston Hunger

Pacers versus Boston

Back-to-back and heading east after Indiana…call me a coward or worse a pragmatist, but I’d almost rather have the W’s try to trick the Pacers into an old fashioned style Warriors shoot-out (or All-Star game) style battle on Tuesday, to leave plenty in the tank for Boston the night after.

Although, like EE way down below, I expect the W’s will be up for a Herculean effort…and who wouldn’t like the W’s to be one of four teams to beat Indiana at home.

But is it heresy to consider maybe you par that game and go for the eagle before catching wing back the the Bay?

Bryan Hsiao

exactly.
I believe our biggest weakness is patience on the court.
I only see Curry + Blake (Bogut & Dre some) to have that patience to see the play get developed.

Klay rushes his move ALL THE FREAKING TIME. Or he pre-determined what to do before he even gets the ball and he sticks to his guns without even surveying the floor to see the play developed. (like his quick interior pass off a P&R when he would automatically throw the pass even when the screener did not roll)

Lee just tries to put up the shot ASAP so that he would not get blocked and he can try to tip it again.( sometimes he just cannot do that against more athletic bigs)
A pumpfake is just not in his repertoire

1. Bry made the point about what happens with Bogs out; plus, he should be an option on O.

2. This wood easily be our best defensive line-up with Curry.

3. Running some Andre at Point Forward, with Curry and Barnes rubbing off screens could be a lot of fun — and there’d be lobs to Dray and Bogs when Steph gets doubled.

4. This five would enjoy a very high bball IQ — facilitating improvisation when necessary.

Assuming proper minutes management pre-Q4, I’d be very happy finishing with this five. The big Q is whether Jax would ever tumble to it, or if he’ll remain forever steadfast at the helm.

Thurston Hunger

Hey Sartre,

If it helps the W’s mgmt consider retaining both, this is year FIVE for DeRozan…

That being said, an attack SG who gets to the line and can handle some PG work would be attractive.

Similarly a post-up PF who demands double teams would be worth a look.

Possibly toughest to find the latter…but then the mix for the former with Steph is part of the equation.

Maybe I’m personally too addicted to the status quo. Do you endorse the W’s making a move? Probably a better conversation to have in the off season granted…

Thurston Hunger

Small weird thought from Toronto game

So the Raptors won, congrats to them and all; but anyone else surprised when Valanciunas left and did not return for the final 15 minutes?

Thurston Hunger

Yeah I had the Iguodala thought earlier and found myself pushing it away.

Right now it is tough to see the growth, but the games and potential playoffs are a huge focal distraction. Klay is a favorite target. He is the most visibly inconsistent…but despite the TS% angle from Sartre, he and Steph are about 1% away on shooting threes. And I think like 4% on shooting two’s…that being key that Steph has gotten even more creative at finishing inside (and hardly ever using a teardrop).

Klay has been trying to come hard off that weak-side pick and get to the basket, but he is not a driver for many reasons.

I do think at times this season Klay’s passing has looked good (and then horrible). His rebounding has been there a little but not too much honestly , but again he’s often cross-matched to guard Wall, or Parker or Lawson etc….

I just don’t see AI stepping up that way viz-a-viz leadership, but I hope I’m wrong. To me the question is can Steph take on more leadership…
1) urging and setting up AI with more than 3-pointers
2) providing more defense himself, and maybe pulling a LeBron and telling MJax he wants to guard the opposing PG
3) running the floor the way CP3 does (and Magic did)

Speaking of #3, loved the Curry And-1 he drew on DeRozan in CP3 style today. Slowing down and moving laterally right in front of a trailing DeRozan for the surprise touch foul and then the continuation bucket.

I

sartre

I love our core as individual players and haven’t given up on Thompson and Barnes both taking the next step as productive players in the future but I’m feeling less confident about the core’s collective fit at the offensive end. Even last season with Jack and Landry helping offensively the team was still only 9th in offensive efficiency. I think it needs the very type of skill sets you described to improve offensively and that Thompson rather than Lee is more movable. Also, Lee is a more productive player than Thompson who is essentially 3 and d with below average rebounding and assists.

As for DeRozan, he scores 5 1/2 more points on 3 1/2 more shots per 48 minutes these days but his numbers are pretty close to what they were last season – including an essentially unchanged scoring efficiency. He is getting to the line more and his assists are up but his uptick hasn’t been as dramatic as might seem.

Camelot

Jody Genessy
@DJJazzyJody
about 3 hours ago

“Funny to see Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, David Lee and other Warriors at
Steak ‘n Shake in Indianapolis on a night Jazz and Pacers played.”

Was going to post my thoughts on last night’s game, but I’m a no excuses guy. No comments.

El Topo

The real catastrophe would be losing to the Celtics. If that happens, keep me away from the razor blades.

El Topo

OT — Watched last 3 quarters of Knicks-Bulls. Bulls had a splendid offense going — everyone moving without the ball and Noah distributing like Magic or Nash in their prime. Love that Noah, best passing big man in the game (if LBJ is a small). Bogut is good, but Noah is excellent.

Tired

Great write up Adam. saved me the trouble. It is downright pathetic the way the Ws run out of options when the other team adjusts to them. They had that game and let it slip away with their carelessness. Carelessness that comes from lack of training and discipline. Wow, it is just so infuriating to watch.

NCDub

Please see my “Plan B_ at thje end of the last Aam post Here’s a
poist script JAX –”Plan B…needs to sit non-performers to let them think & watch. See Aeurbach of coaching legends–even sat Russ on occasion s when he was plying poorly or (rarely) out matched or inattentive…
Klay Plan B–needs to develop one of HIS OWN–stop chucking & pass, drive & rotate…or sit. See Popovitch (current legend) even sat Nowitsky.
Re Klay– Beez..he’s not Bird or Magic (who did have MANY personal alternate Plans–& were ALWAYS winners. Food for though.

Oops…a GrampaTom BF. Duncan it was in the latter part of the post season game last year vs. Dubs.

NCDub

jsl
Strange as it seems, I’m beginning to believe that JAX doesn’t know any better! Can’t he just see what’s going on? What about his long career as a pretty good PG? Is there no one in the FO who can sit him down & read the facts of life (aka the NBA) to him? Is he just being stubborn? Is he dumb despite his long career? Does he unbelievably have a LBBIQ? is he frightened or fixated on “losing”–if so, he’s certainly not changing his ways. There’s been lots of conjecture here from most everyone–are we all missing something?
Sorry for the rant. But anyone who played CYO ball knows when a change is needed while watching his “star” being manhandled with no Plan B to rely on. SOS!